Monster Mash
by lostworldlady
Summary: The crew of Farscape takes on classic movie monster qualities. It's up to John Crichton to help return them to normal!


**Monster Mash**

_Disclaimer: Farscape™ and everything associated with it is copyrighted to the Jim Henson Company. I am in no way profiting from this writing in anyway. I am only borrowing the characters for my own creative exploits and this stand alone story is in no way associated with the Farscape franchise. This story takes place during Season 2 and is intended for entertainment purposes only. _

We now return you to your regularly scheduled episode…

Crichton was sitting on the floor of his quarters, throwing a ball up against the door. He had been entertaining himself in this manner for the past hour, using the time of keeping his body occupied with thinking through the recent events in his life.

Suddenly his comm. Crackled to life and the voice of Pilot greeted him. "Commander, please come to the command." The message was full of static although Crichton could hear the concern in his voice. He was on his feet and out the door before his ball had stopped rolling across the floor.

Running to command, he met Aeryn in the passageway. "What do you think happened now?"

She rolled her eyes as she matched pace with him as they ran. "Who the frell knows? Rygel probably cheated someone out of money and they want revenge on all of us, again."

As they reached command, they saw that D'Argo and Zhaan were already present. The only one missing was Rygel.

Aeryn tapped her comm... "Pilot, what's wrong?"

The clamshell sparkled to life and Pilot's face greeted them all. "Moya's scans indicate that there is a ship out there. It doesn't match anything she's ever seen before. They have not tried to contact us yet and it appears that they are just floating dead in space. Moya wants to know what she should do. Though they have not threatened us, she feels anxious about the ship."

"Why does she feel anxious about the ship?" Crichton asked.

Pilot shrugged. "She does not know exactly. She simply feels that it would be best to leave it alone."

Dominar Rygel the XVI entered the command at that moment and made a flourish with his small scepter. "And what if there's something valuable onboard? We could be missing out on a fortune!"

Zhaan sighed. "Or there could be someone hurt. Perhaps we should try to find out what happened."

D'Argo voiced his own opinion. "Or perhaps it's a trap and they're just waiting for us to let down our guard before they attack us."

"Well I think there's only one way to find out. We should check it out. Pilot, ready a transport pod and tell Moya to stand by. Anybody wanna' go say hi?" Crichton smiled at the thought of another adventure.

Within the hour, all five of the comrades were onboard one of the huge leviathan's transport pods and flying towards the other ship.

Everyone had insisted on going since they rarely got off of Moya.

As the transport pod neared the ship, everyone grew silent.

"Why doesn't this ship acknowledge us?" Rygel asked impatiently.

"Something doesn't feel right." Zhaan's quiet voice added.

"Well, we'll know soon enough since we're docking." Aeryn said.

As they left the transport pod behind and stepped out into the strangely silent ship's cargo hold, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

The group fanned out, weapons at the ready. They showed caution because they had had too many incidents with unfriendly ships to act otherwise. They all stood, tense and ready for something, anything to happen. They were greeted only by silence.

Crichton shrugged. "Guess there's no one home."

"Let's get to command and see if they have any star charts that could get us home." D'Argo's deep voice suggested.

"I think we need to search the cargo for anything of value. I vote we split up and search for what we're looking for. Whatever we find, we keep." Rygel grinned at the thought of treasure.

"We need to see if there's anyone here who needs help first." Zhaan said.

"Rygel, stay here and watch the transport pod. D'Argo and Zhaan, go to command and see if you can find any charts. Aeryn and I will start looking for whatever caused this thing to just be floating dead in space. We'll keep an eye out for anyone who might need help. Sound good?" Crichton said.

Everyone nodded and began moving away from the transport pod. "And Rygel, try not to break anything." Crichton called as he rounded a bend and was lost to the Hynerian's sight.

"Indeed!" Rygel called back indignantly.

Crichton and Aeryn made their way through the ship, heading toward the central control system located just one level down from where they currently were. Though the ship they were on was dwarfed in comparison to Moya, it was still large enough to get easily lost in and so they stayed close together.

They were nearing a ventilation shaft which they could use to climb down to the control system with when Crichton heard a sound behind them. He turned towards the sound but there was nothing there, the corridor appeared to be empty. Aeryn, who was leading, acted as if she hadn't heard anything so Crichton shrugged it off. He was a bit jumpy because he too felt nervous about being on this ship though he couldn't explain why.

They had just turned the final corner and the opened to the ventilation shaft was in sight when Crichton heard another noise behind them. "Hey Aeryn, did you hear something?"

She stopped walking, listened, and then shook her head. "No, I didn't. There's nothing here Crichton."

She moved to go down the shaft when Crichton caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned, though he knew before he looked what he would see, and found that once again there was nothing around them. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. "This place is freaky. Something about it just doesn't feel right."

Aeryn rolled her eyes. "Zhaan is beginning to wear off on you. Relax, the ship is deserted." She disappeared from view as she descended down the tube.

Once alone, Crichton began to notice every little noise around him. A beam creaked overhead and he jumped. A grinding noise somewhere deep within the ship sent him glancing about nervously. It seemed like forever until Aeryn's voice called up to him. "Alright, you can come down now."

Crichton was just about to follow her down the tube when he felt a sudden, sharp pain in his neck. Then, blackness greeted him…

Crichton woke beside the ventilation shaft with Aeryn kneeling over him. She was watching him intently, concern etched on her beautiful face.

"Are you alright? You tripped and hit your head on the tube entrance and were knocked out for several monens." She reached out to touch his head and he pushed her hand away.

"Ow, my head hurts." He rubbed his temples and the headache eased for a moment.

"Ready to try again?" She asked, standing up.

"I guess so. Hopefully I can make it down without falling." He reached for the tunnel and grabbed hold of a metal bar. "Me first this time though."

He was almost to the bottom of the tube when he glanced up at Aeryn who was watching him. He smiled up at her and she returned his smile. Suddenly, she screamed and was lost to his sight as a huge beast leapt at her and she was lost from sight. He could hear her struggling for her life and there was nothing he could do.  
"Aeryn!" He yelled up to her but got no answer. He began to scramble back up towards the top of the tube. Fearful of what he would find at the top, he was totally unprepared for what was actually there.

He jumped out of the tube only to find blood everywhere. There were torn pieces of her black clothing, bits of brown fur and bloody streaks all over the floor. But neither Aeryn nor the thing that had attacked her was anywhere to be seen. Crichton turned in circles, staring at all the blood and cried out in frustration. "Aeryn!"

He noticed a bloody smear leading off down a far corridor and commed the others. "Aeryn's in trouble gang. Something attacked her and dragged her off. I'm going to follow their trial, but be careful, there might be more critters on this ship."

"Where are you Crichton?" D'Argo said.

"By the ventilation shaft on the main level. We were trying to get down to the control system when that thing attacked her." Crichton answered.

"I'll be right there, stay where you are."

Within moments, Crichton could hear the huge Luxan running down the corridor towards him. He ran down to the end of the passageway to meet him and then led him towards the scene at the ventilation shaft. When they reached the tube, there was no blood or any signs of a struggle between Aeryn and the creature. The area looked as pristine and clean as the day it was built. Crichton looked around in confusion. "But…where'd all the blood go?"

D'Argo raised a bushy eyebrow at him. "Are you feeling alright Crichton? You sounded very upset but there's nothing here. Is this some kind of hoo-man joke?"

"D'Argo there was blood everywhere! I don't understand where it could have gone! There were bits of her clothing and fur from the creature here too. And now everything has just disappeared." Crichton wrung his hands in the air in bewilderment.

The Luxan warrior growled. "I will be in command with Zhaan. Stop wasting my time." He stormed off down the hallway.

"But…" Crichton sighed and turned back towards the ventilation shaft.

He was trying to decide what to do when his comm. crackled to life. "Crichton? It's Zhaan. Is D'Argo still with you?"

"No, he left me about fifteen minutes ago. Why? Isn't he back in command with you?"

The Delvian's voice sounded puzzled. "No. I thought…"

But her voice was cut off as Crichton heard D'Argo scream from somewhere down the hallway.

"Hang on Zhaan, I think D'Argo's in trouble." He rushed off towards the sound of the Luxan.

Rounding a corner, Crichton almost screamed himself at the sight before him. D'Argo lay on the floor, neck twisted at a horrible angle, black blood oozing from his mouth. His Qualta blade was protruding from his chest. Crichton sank to his knees beside his fallen friend. He didn't need to check for a pulse because D'Argo's eyes had already glazed over with death. "Why…?" He began to cry as he closed D'Argo's eyes for the last time.

As he entered command, he gently laid the Qualta blade on a table and turned to face Zhaan. "He…I couldn't…I was too late."

Zhaan frowned at him and moved closer. She laid a blue hand on his shoulder gently. That seemed to snap him out of his sorrow for the moment. "Zhaan, he's dead. D'Argo is dead! There was nothing I could do. I couldn't get there in time. I don't even know what did this to him."

The Delvian pulled him into a hug. "You did all you could for him. Now we must stick together and try to find Aeryn."

Crichton's head snapped up at the sound of her name. "I've got to find her! I can't loose her too Zhaan!"

"Calm down Crichton. I will stay here and continue downloading the star charts. I'll be safe if I stay in this room. Go and find Rygel, take him with you to find Aeryn."

Crichton nodded. "Alright. But if you need anything, please call."

"I will. And don't worry, I can defend myself if necessary."

As he turned to go, he looked back at her. "I'm sorry that I couldn't save him Zhaan."

She smiled warmly at him. "I do not blame you Crichton. But hurry and find Rygel so you can both save Aeryn before it is too late."

He nodded and headed back towards the cargo bay.

Crichton tapped his comm. "Hey Sparky, you still there?"

He waited a moment, frozen in place before trying again. Though he was afraid of what he would hear. "Rygel? Where are you Dominar?"

Panic began to set in as Crichton raced down the corridor towards the cargo bay.

Stopping just outside the doors, he pulled out his gun. He jumped into the room, pointing his pulse pistol straight out in front of himself, prepared to shoot at the first sign of danger. Nothing happened. Nothing attacked him. In fact, it was eerily quiet.

"This is getting really creepy."

He walked down the aisles between boxes, searching for any sign of what had happened to Rygel. He searched the entire area but found nothing of the small Hynerian. He was just about to leave the area, thinking that Rygel had wandered off somewhere else, when his breath caught in his throat. On the steps of the transport pod was Rygel. Crichton approached slowly, already assuming the worst of what he would find. Even assuming the worst couldn't prepare him for what he saw.

The Dominar's body lay on the steps of the transport pod, something that looked like blood was running down the steps and Crichton had to step over some of it to peer closer at the body. He quickly pulled away and threw up off to the side of the steps. Rygel's head was missing. The Hynerian had been decapitated and there was no sign of his head anywhere.

Running back to command, Crichton commed Zhaan again. "I think we have a problem."

"What is it now Crichton?" Her voice sounded vaguely irritated.

"Rygel is dead. Something on this ship is picking us off, one by one. And I have no idea how to find it and stop it before it gets all of us." He couldn't keep the fear out of his voice as he ran back to command.

Zhaan's voice came back so quiet that he had to strain to hear her as he ran. "Crichton please hurry. There's something in here."

Putting on an extra burst of speed, he rushed through the command doors with his faithful pulse pistol still out and aiming for a target. Everything was quiet, too quiet. And Crichton knew what he would discover even before he found her. As he walked through the room with his gun out, he saw her lying on the floor. With her eyes closed, she looked peaceful, almost as if she were asleep. As he knelt beside her, he checked her for any signs of injury and found none. Sighing because he knew that she was dead like the others, he shook his head as he began to make his way back to the ventilation shaft in the hopes of picking up Aeryn's trail.

Once back at the center of the ship, Crichton sank to the floor. He was alone and had no idea where to start looking for Aeryn. He pulled his knees up to his chest and rocked back and forth, hugging himself.

Suddenly, he heard what sounded like footsteps coming down the hallway. He quickly jumped into the ventilation shaft to hide. Through small slots in the tube, he could see the area around the center chamber.

As he watched from his hiding spot, Crichton saw come into view what he thought was D'Argo. He blinked in surprise and had to fight the urge to jump out and hug his big friend. Something about the way D'Argo was moving seemed odd to Crichton. He was moving slowly, dragging his feet and his eyes seemed glazed over. There were stitches over his chest where his Qualta blade had been when Crichton had found him. Black blood was still oozing from his mouth and Crichton noticed that his skin had turned an almost sickly green color. He lumbered past Crichton's hiding spot and didn't seem to notice Crichton.

Once he was alone again, Crichton started to climb out of the ventilation shaft. He was about to follow D'Argo when he heard more footsteps coming down the corridor. Rolling his eyes, he hurried back to his hiding spot.

This time, what came down the hallway was even stranger than the way D'Argo was behaving. This time it was Zhaan and a headless Rygel.

Crichton almost lost his grip on the ladder as he stared at them in disbelief. Zhaan was almost totally white from her bald head down to her toes. She was also floating about a foot off of the floor. She just seemed to glide forward without a care in the world. Her eyes looked unfocused and she seemed to not be aware of her surroundings.

If Zhaan's appearance wasn't odd enough, Rygel won the award for truly bizarre. The little Hynerian was on his throne-sled, his body at ease and completely normal save for his missing head. Crichton almost did a double take at the sight of the Dominar waving his small hand as if saluting his loyal subjects though without a head.

Zhaan and Rygel made their way past Crichton's hiding spot without so much as a glance towards him. They seemed to be following D'Argo and once they were out of sight and around the corner, Crichton followed them.

As he followed them at a safe distance so they wouldn't see him, Crichton noticed that they were going deeper into the abandoned ship. They passed hallways that led off to other parts of the ship and Crichton knew that they would soon be at the heart of the vessel, near where Aeryn and he had been trying to go earlier.

When Zhaan and Rygel stopped walking or floating as it were, they stood frozen next to D'Argo who was also standing stock still. They appeared to be waiting for something, although Crichton had no idea what. He noticed that they were in a large chamber with a central power conduit that rose up through the ceiling. The conduit was pulsing with an eerie blue light.

After what seemed like forever, Crichton heard someone coming towards the three who were waiting. He heard the rattle of chains and heard something with claws coming forward. As he poked his head around the corner he saw to his horror, Scorpius in what looked like a white lab coat over his usual black leather. He was dragging something furry by a collar attached to the chain leash. From where he stood however, Crichton couldn't make out what the furry thing was, only that it was as tall as Scorpius himself and it was covered in thick, black fur.

As soon as he saw his arch nemesis, Crichton wanted more than anything to rush forward and kill him. Scorpius had put him and his friends though so much grief over the past two years that Crichton knew if he were dead their lives would be much easier. He had to close his eyes and concentrate not to run into the chamber, firing at the half-Scarran.

Crichton crouched behind the wall that separated the hallway from the main chamber and waited. While he waited quietly, Crichton watched as Scorpius forced the furry creature forward. To his horror, Crichton saw that it was half Sebacean and half beast. The bi-pedal creature stood hunched over on two legs and had a thick, fluffy tail that twitched whenever Scorpius yanked on the chain. It had huge black claws that protruded from it's hands and feet and large pointed ears that stuck up out of the mass of thick fur on it's head.

When Scorpius made to move the creature away from Crichton's three friends, it growled low and dangerously at him. He ignored it and jerked the chain, causing the creature to stumble and put a very human looking hand on the ground to steady itself. When it stood up again, it glared at Scorpius with a hatred Crichton recognized similar to his own. Scorpius then led the creature over to what looked like an examining table that Crichton hadn't noticed before. Above the table there were hanging dozens of odd and painful looking contraptions that he could only imagine what they were used for.

Scorpius and the creature moved farther away from the door and Crichton had a hard time seeing what was going on so he moved forward into the chamber itself to get a better view. He had just concealed himself behind a crate with some foul smelling purple worms in it when he realized that this must be some sort of diabolical laboratory used for insane experiments. His eyes widened in shock as he watched Scorpius trying to force the creature up onto the examining table.

Suddenly, the creature's head snapped in his direction and he saw it sniff the air. The creature made a horrible howling sound as it jerked itself free of Scorpius's grip and bounded towards him, claws extended and jaws snapping furiously. Crichton barely had enough time to register what was happening before the creature was on top of him, going for his throat. It had knocked his pulse pistol out of his hand and away from them and as it lurched for his throat again Crichton stared up in horror into eyes that were strangely familiar. "Aeryn?!?"

He was answered by a growl of frustration as the creature's claws raked his arms and drool fell from her mouth as she snapped at his face. All of a sudden, Crichton heard a fizzling sound and smelled burning hair and fur. Aeryn let out a yelp of pain and slumped forward onto him, unconscious. He gently pushed her off of him and stood up to stare at Scorpius. The villain had what looked like a large rod in his hands that was crackling with electricity. Crichton knew a tazer when he saw one and jumped out of the way as Scorpius lunged towards him.

Crichton ducked and weaved in and out among the crates and instruments in the room, all the while keeping an eye on where Scorpius was pointing the tazer. He had finally managed to get back to the opening and was running back down the corridor when he heard Scorpius yell. "After him you fools! Kill him! Kill him!" Then Crichton heard Aeryn's claws scrabbling on the metal floor, D'Argo lumbering after him and the sound of Rygel's throne-sled coming down the corridor towards him. His only chance would be to find a place to hide while he figured out a way to help them all, if he could help them all.

He had just rounded a corner and was coming up on a ventilation shaft that would take him to another level when he heard a slight popping sound behind him. Glancing behind him, he only had time to put his hands up to shield his face before Zhaan attacked him. Her eyes were blood red and she was going for his throat in an attempt to rip it out. With all his effort, Crichton pushed her away as he scrambled for the ladder.

Rushing up it as fast as he could, he was almost at the top when he felt Zhaan latch onto his leg. She had actually sunk her teeth into his leg. He tried to shake her off but she was holding on too tightly. Finally, he reached an arm down and hit her on her head. Momentarily stunned, Zhaan released him and he managed to climb up to safety. Or rather where he thought he would be safe. As he sat at the top of the ladder catching his breath, he heard a moaning sound coming from somewhere nearby. Looking around frantically for somewhere to hide, Crichton saw D'Argo's huge shadow coming around a corner. He lurched to his feet and despite the pain in his leg, made for another corridor that would take him away from D'Argo.

As he hobbled along, Crichton noticed that he was dripping a trail of blood from his wound. He would be even easier to follow now. Grunting in frustration and pain, he tried to move faster. He continued down the passageway until it forked and he followed the path to the left. He could see the transport pod up ahead and he was glad that nothing was blocking his way yet. Maybe if he could get back to Moya, Pilot could help him save their friends.

Crichton was within sight of the transport pod and getting closer to it all the time. He actually was beginning to believe that he would make it when he limped through the doorway into the cargo hold. It was at the moment that he heard a low growling sound coming from behind him. As he turned slowly to face who he knew was there, he automatically went for his pulse pistol. When his fingers grasped nothing but air by his side, he cursed silently. His pulse pistol was still down in Scorpius's lab.  
By now he was facing the hallway and he saw Aeryn staring at him, her jaws open as she growled at him. A thin line of drool was coming off of her peeled back lips which revealed sharp, white teeth. She took a step towards him and her claws clicked on the floor again. Not knowing what to do because he didn't actually want to hurt her, Crichton waited for her to make the first move. He didn't have to wait long because she suddenly rushed at him, leaping high into the air and coming down at him with jaws snapping and claws slicing the air.

Even though Crichton was ready for her attack, her strength and speed still caught him off guard and before he even realized what was happening, he was on the floor with her furry body pinning him as her claws raked his arms. He struggled to get her off of him, but whatever type of creature had bitten her had made her incredibly strong and he knew there was nothing he could do as she lowered her muzzle towards his throat. Squeezing his eyes shut against the pain that he knew would be coming, he was greeted instead by the feeling of floating through blackness. No pain, no sound, nothing. There was only the blackness that surrounded him.

When Crichton opened his eyes, he realized that he was in the infirmary on Moya. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. As he tried to sit up, a blue hand gently eased him back down. Zhaan came into his field of vision and she was no longer white to Crichton's relief. She looked relieved as well as she smiled down at him.

"What happened?"

A heavy hand landed on his right shoulder and he looked up to see D'Argo, grinning down at him. He no longer had the stitches in his chest from his Qualta blade wound. "Glad to see you've come around." Zhaan said as she held up a container with an ugly blue bug inside of it. "This is what stung you. A Xyrfer beetle. Their poison makes the victim hallucinate their nightmares. As if you're living your darkest fears."

Crichton shivered. "Yeah, well mine were more like things that used to scare me as a kid." Sitting up gingerly because his head hurt, he saw Rygel come gliding into the room. He seemed completely normal as well and Crichton was relieved to see that he still had his head attached.

"Ah, you're finally awake! Now we can decide what to do about that ship out there." The Dominar smiled happily at the thought of looting another vessel.

"I really don't think that's a smart idea." Aeryn had followed Rygel into the room and Crichton was very happy to see that she was longer a beast-type creature with black fur. "Crichton's been hurt and we don't need any more trouble."

"I agree with Aeryn. While I was out cold I had a very strange dream and I don't want it to turn out to be a premonition." Crichton added.

"A pre-mo-notion? Is that something from your home planet?" Zhaan asked quietly.

"Yeah, sort of. It's like getting a glimpse of the future. And if this was a glimpse of our near future, trust me, we want to get Moya going in the opposite direction as soon as possible!" Crichton looked around nervously, afraid that Scorpius was going to jump out and tell him that this was the actual dream.

D'Argo nodded. "Alright. We don't need any more trouble so I'll go tell Pilot that we're not going to bother with the other ship since so many of us feel that it's unsafe." He left the infirmary to go talk to Pilot and Rygel followed him, arguing about why they should go onto the other ship. Their voices faded away down the corridor.

Zhaan chuckled as she moved towards the door as well. "And now that you're awake Crichton, I think I will go and get some rest. Glad you are back with us now." She too moved off down the hallway, though in a different direction than Rygel and D'Argo had taken.

Now only Aeryn remained and she took a seat at the foot of Crichton's bed.

"We're all glad that you're okay."

"Yeah, thanks. I'm just glad that it turned out to be just a dream. It wasn't a very nice dream either. A lot of the stuff was from horror movies that used to scare me as a kid." He chuckled half-heartedly.

"What is a her-or movie?" Aeryn's grasp of the English language wasn't all that great though she had already learned what a movie was.

Crichton actually chuckled this time. "Not hero movie, horror movie. As in scary. Humans make horror movies of things we're afraid of, like monsters and stuff."

Aeryn raised a black eyebrow. "Why would you want to scare yourselves?"

"It was all in good fun, I guess."

"Scaring your friends is fun?" Now she really looked confused.

"Well, not the way you put it. But horror movies are a way for us to see our fears and try to laugh at them."

"Laugh at your fears? Why not just shoot them and be done with it?"

Crichton rolled his eyes. "Because you can't shoot everything."

Now it was Aeryn's turn to smile. "But I can try."

**THE END**


End file.
